Volleyball Drops Pair of Matches to Radford and Bellarmine

Friday, September 18

Radford, Va.

1:00 p.m.

Chattanooga

4-6,0-0SoCon

Radford

4-8,0-0Big South

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Chattanooga	20	27	19	0
Radford	25	29	25	3

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Chattanooga	22	25	12	22	1
Bellarmine	25	19	25	25	3

Caroline Peterson serves the ball against Valparaiso

Photo by: Ray Soldano

9/18/2026 6:33:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Chattanooga fell in its first two matches of the Highlander Invitational

RADFORD, Va. - Chattanooga fell in its first two matches of the Highlander Invitational hosted by Radford. In the first match of the day the Mocs were swept by Radford before losing in four sets to Bellarmine. Today's matches were games seven and eight of a nine-game run of matches away from Maclellan Gym.

Scores
Chattanooga 0, Radford 3: (20-25, 27-29, 19-25)
Chattanooga 1, Bellarmine 3: (22-25, 25-19, 12-25, 22-25)

Records
Chattanooga (4-7)
Radford (4-8)
Bellarmine (6-4)

Series Notes
Chattanooga moves to 1-1 all-time against Radford. Today's meeting was the first since 1996. The Mocs are now 2-1 all-time against Bellarmine. The last meeting was a four-set win for UTC in 2024 on a neutral court.

Chattanooga 0, Radford 3
The two teams were getting a feel for one another in the early goings as a kill from Sophia Garrido put the Mocs within one point at 7-6. Radford slowly started to gain control of the opening set, using three straight UTC attack errors to push its lead to 13-8. The Highlanders kept moving ahead, leading by as many as 10 points at 22-12. Chattanooga later killed off four set points with the assistance of two kills by Elena Vukmanov, but Radford held on to win 25-20.

Radford led by three points in the beginning of the second set before Chattanooga answered with a 3-0 run, started by a kill from Kynli Kirkendoll to tie the set at 11. The two sides went back-and-forth for the next several points before a 5-0 Mocs run that was pushed on by four Radford errors put the away side up 21-16. A kill from Addison Walker put Chattanooga on set point at 24-22, but the Highlanders fought off two points in a row. The set went to extra points, eventually resulting in a 29-27 win for Radford.

Chattanooga had the upper hand for the first part of the third set, using back-to-back kills from Vukmanov to go ahead 9-7. However, the Mocs couldn't extend their lead with the score remaining tight at 15-15. Bailey Burgess later added a kill, but UTC trailed 20-19. This turned out to be the final point of the match for the Blue and Gold as Radford scored the final five points to cap off a 25-19 win and sweep the match.

Individual and Team Stats

Ashley Reynolds contributed 22 assists, six digs, and three total blocks for the Mocs.
Kirkendoll had eight kills offensively while also posting six digs and four total blocks on the opposite side of the net.
Vukmanov was right behind her with seven kills while holding a .353 hitting percentage.
Caiti Barthel led the Mocs in digs with 13 while Ryan Oden tallied a career-high nine digs.
Addison Cunnagin (17 kills, 17 digs) and Lea Gage (44 assists, 11 digs) each had double-doubles for Radford.
Radford had 49 kills while Chattanooga had 35. The Highlanders held a .236 hitting percentage to the Mocs' .153 hitting percentage.

Chattanooga 1, Bellarmine 3
It was close throughout the first set with the score reading 5-5 after a Jordin Glass kill before it was tied again at 10 after a Bellarmine attack error. A quick 3-0 run by UTC, started off by a kill from Rose put her side up 14-11. The score was 20-16 Chattanooga later on, however a timely 7-0 run from the Knights all of a sudden put them within two points of winning the set. A kill from Rose ended the run, but it was too little too late as Bellarmine scored two of the next three points to close out a 25-22 win.

Vukmanov had a kill to open the set, which would be a theme as she ended up having seven in the set. As the set progressed a 4-0 run for UTC capped off by kills from Burgess and Vukmanov, put the score at 11-7. The lead remained at around four to five points as a kill from Reynolds put the Mocs up 19-14. Bellarmine tried to make a late run, getting within two at 21-19, however Chattanooga responded scoring the final four points capped off by an attack error to earn a 25-19 win and tie the match at one.

In the third set the score was tied at four, but that quickly changed as a 7-0 Bellarmine run, highlighted by two service aces, put the Mocs down 11-4. Another service ace later in the set put the Knights up double digits at 15-5. Chattanooga didn't get any closer than eight points the rest of the way. Bellarmine scored six of the last seven points to claim the 25-12 result and go up 2-1.

Bellarmine remained on top in the first part of the third set as a kill followed by a service ace put it ahead 8-5. Chattanooga responded though with the help of kills from Vukmanov and Glass to go up 10-9. The Mocs seemed to have a grip on the set as an attack error by the Knights pushed their lead to 16-13. That wasn't the case though as Bellarmine rallied to score the next five points to go up 18-16. Bellarmine pushed its lead to 24-20 before UTC held off two match points, but a kill for the Knights ended things at 25-22.

Individual and Team Stats

Vukmanov had a career-high 15 kills to lead the Mocs offensively while no other Moc had more than six kills for the match. She also had five digs and two service aces.
Reynolds anchored the attack, tallying 26 assists for the match and was one dig away from a double-double with nine.
Barthel led the defensive efforts once again with 18 digs. Burgess also contributed defensively with four total blocks.
Bellarmine had 12 service aces to Chattanooga's four.
The Mocs hit .136 for the night while the Knights held a .232 hitting percentage.
Mady Yaden led Bellarmine with 15 kills while Natalie Bland had a double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs.

Postgame Quote
Julie Torbett Thomas, Head Coach

On today's matches
"Elena [Vukmanov] played great which was nice to see. She had a career-high 15 kills against Bellarmine. We are not playing well together as a team. The pieces aren't clicking together yet."

Up Next: Chattanooga wraps up the weekend tomorrow at 1 p.m. with a match against Norfolk State. Fans can tune into the game on ESPN+.

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